Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Taking Aim ❯ chapter two ( Chapter 2 )

Just bought Genbu Kaiden volume three and the thrill of reading the new installments on my own travels always wrings out a few words from me. Or pages. Hope you enjoy.

Dedicated in part to Miss Lynne, to Inuskye, and to my sisters.

 

Disclaimer: Penpaninu/yash does not claim to own Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden in any way, nor is getting paid to write this. If I were, I wouldn't have to talk to annoying customers.

 

“Taking Aim” chapter two

by penpaninu

 

I could feel Hatsui's eyes on my strong back as I undressed. The Augur, no matter how old her Eminence may be, was a wise kid. She saw how fatigued we were and granted our use of her private underground springs. I heard her mentioning something about Uruki to Takiko, and I grit my teeth as we were led away to refresh ourselves.

My priestess had a large heart, no matter how young she was, and I believe she waited for Rimudo to find us there. Genbu above, please make him stub his fine princely toe, and delay him.

 

I didn't want to stress myself on the strange relationship between the Wind Slasher and my Genbu no Miko, so I resolved to enjoy the opportunity to wash the dust of travel from my aching body; and to spend time with Hatsui. The poor kid was red in the face as we unfastened tunics and loosened drawstrings. My shy celestial brother had endured much verbal assault and abuse over his years and he could only be sure that I would tease him for his round shape as others had done.

The sight of my lean but hard muscles disappearing in the hot spring water could only make him doubt his own form even more. I resolved to be kind to my brother, even if he made me want to smack him sometimes. The kid needed some confidence and fast! Takiko needed all the protection she could get from us.

 

“Come on in, Hatsui, it's not going to scald you,” I offered. I slit my eyes shut carefully as the hot water seeped into me and washed my anxieties from me. Hatsui stammered an apology and I heard the rustle of his garments as he hastened to the spring's edge. The water cascaded up in a splash, reaching as high as my neck at his descent into the pool. I opened one eye and laughed aloud at the bewildered and apologetic expression on Hatsui's round face. He blushed and sank in up to his nose, his double chins stretched taut from the sad expression pulling at his lips.

 

“I-I'm sorry, Tomite!” he stammered. I sighed and scrubbed at the lean muscles in my arms, feeling weariness set back in with the hard travel we would have to face very soon.

 

“It's okay, Hatsui! Just make sure you're washed up.” Okay, I know a man's duty as the next guy, but sometimes babysitting just got on my damn nerves. Still, Hatsui didn't deserve any more needless tongue lashing especially when he didn't deserve it. I got Hatsui talking about his knowledge of herbs and the odd jargon he spoke with shy enthusiasm went right over my head, but assured me he knew something of this world that he was good at.

 

That and needles.

 

Takiko was waiting for at a dinner table prepared for our company and it was there I got the startling jab of seeing Rimudo emerge, freshly washed, with my priestess. The Augur's women had let him into Takiko's own bathing pool! True, he had been a woman at the time, but still that grated me raw inside. I could only take my jabs where I could, while Rimudo remained as a woman and was even dressed up as such. I howled with laughter, taking satisfaction in his slit eyes promising retribution.

 

Even Hatsui seemed to take partnership in my mirth, and smiled widely as we ascended our horses in the underground rock caverns, expressing his happiness that the Kutou soldiers surely couldn't track us someplace that did not exist on our map or any map. I could only sneer and comment on the `lady's' silence, trying to antagonize Rimudo further. His punch was strong for a woman, almost taking my head half off. I grinned around a cracked lip and snickered further at his growing consternation.

That and Takiko always rode with me on our horse. Takiko may have favored Rimudo subconsciously in her heart, but I was cheered that she would come to my horse still. It spoke that the rift between her and the Wind Slasher was still living and festering, but I would take her warmth where I could have it.

Her warm back pressed against my chest and my thighs held her in place securely, as I was the better rider of us both. Sure, you got to bathe with her Eminence, Rimudo, but I was her constant protector. She relied on me when we went back to the road of travel.

 

The grit of the road sometimes was daunting, but if it meant seeing my destiny through with Takiko, I would see it through to the bitter end. Even if the grit tasted like disappointment and goals turned to dust in my mouth. The grit was part of life however. ~~~~~~~

 

~~~~~~ The grit was in my mouth again. It tasted of sand on my tongue, dirt in my teeth and felt like pebbles under my fingernails. The rock formation, which may have been a celestial star under Genbu, had repelled our Kutou attackers. I grinned around the dust, seeing Feiyan screech in silent frustration as he waved his stump from across the rocky terrain. Dislike Rimudo or not, he (or was that she?) had done quite a job on that assassin.

 

The rock formation named as our celestial brother went through its own trial as his child like protector was slain by Kutou arrows. I feared Hatsui wouldn't be able to handle seeing such a brutal death and to one so young, but he cradled the Lady Anlu's head in his lap with lip-biting concentration. And I knew he was more worried for Takiko than for his own biting fear. I knew the kid would go far, seeing that.

 

I swallowed my sentimentality as Takiko was thrust into the line of danger as our masked assailant made himself known. Rimudo, looking ridiculous to be facing him all tarted up as a woman, turned to face the man who called himself Hagus. She could have him, as I turned to leap to Takiko's aide. I grabbed her up, small as a child in my strong arms, and used my powers to aide my legs in a long leap away from danger's path..

Once the dust had cleared and I finished griping about the new intake of sand in my throat, I asked if Takiko was okay. She seemed more dazed than hurt, and her eyes welled with such shock and grief at the high wall Namame made in his passing.

 

Could stone die? It was the very substance of the earth, a true child of the world's natural elements. Could a stone bearing Genbu's celestial mark perish? Hatsui came up crying softly as we pondered the stone before us.

“What's wrong? You okay?” I asked with concern. Hatsui blubbered that the child-like oracle had indeed perished under his watch. I clasped the chubby boy's shoulder with a silent gesture of brotherhood and Hatsui clung to my unspoken compliment with fresh tears. His round cheeks were wet with them.

 

When all was said and done, and dratted Rimudo limped back from Hagus, Namame was reborn from the stones of the earth as a tiny child of rock. Apparently my earlier reflection on stone and earth proved to be unfounded as the little stone man carried off his oracle, and then turned to entrap my priestess when we made to give chase.

Takiko was unhurt, but her hands were trapped in the rock formation to the wrist. I tried to break the wall down with my power for my priestess, but the stone merely absorbed all attack and aggression. Even Rimudo's skill with wind could not move the earth. Namame apparently wanted something from Takiko and she was sure with the right conviction and heart, she could speak to stone.

 

Rimudo's old family servant Soren made camp with us down the rocky hallway. I paced up and down near the small fire, rubbing my arms through my jacket against the cold. Hatsui, resembling a padded ball in his layers, hunched close to the only light and wondered aloud if Rimudo could do anything for our priestess. It troubled us both we couldn't do anything to help her.

But I wanted to try and take her mind off the discomfort she was surely in. I slunk off with a sure pace to refill my water bag. Thus trapped by Namame's heartfelt confusion, she had not the hands free to drink or even to make water. How stressful this had to be!

 

So it was my soft stride that took me to the rock formation holding my priestess captive. I resolved to take the first step and see what I could do. But I skidded to a sudden halt seeing not my priestess' back, but of the tall Rimudo blocking her from my view. Quite abruptly, I thought sourly. The wide slopes of the shoulders and manly gait told me the Wind Slasher was dormant and Rimudo stood as a man so close behind my priestess of Genbu.

I gulped, noticing his legs spread wide in his stance, his arms lifting Takiko so that her feet dangled in the air, barely seen by me where I stood to witness this.

 

Had not I known Takiko's entrapment in the stone, I would have jumped to the entirely wrong conclusion, noting men and women I had seen in similar comprising positions in alleyways during festivals at home. It was as embarrassing as now to see so similar a situation, but my heart still seized and my loins stirred, wishing I had come sooner.

Takiko may have leaned back against me on our horse before, but Rimudo had beaten me to that same position here in a matter of minutes. And I ached to be the one holding her so close by choice instead of obligation.

 

It also made me feel more remorse than ever I would admit. Takiko did not fight against him or protest as far as I could see from my vantage point. It didn't stop me from stomping up and whacking Rimudo in the head with the water flask though. I growled loudly about the water for Takiko as Rimudo backed off her and knelt down holding his head in his hands. My irritation had shone through to him in that sharp repeating gesture of camaraderie.

 

Hatsui came charging up on his horse suddenly. He looked more sure of his actions when high up on the creature, I noticed. He was able to move faster for one thing. And we had to move as fast for Soren had given the alert that the assassins were on the move for us once more.

I turned to scream at Takiko when I noticed my priestess glowing with a heavenly light. Rimudo and I shielded our faces as the woman we both adored stood on her tiptoes, trapped in the stone. And then the wall vanished before us. When our vision came to, Takiko was free and cradling a tiny figure of stone to her breast.

 

Namame had accepted Takiko but her soft words told us it was she who had to be the one to open her heart. My own ached suddenly, for feeling too much for her would kill me. Would that she would open her heart to me as readily as to Rimudo and to Namame.

 

The way before us was clear once more but the grit resettled in my mouth. Perhaps my feelings would turn to dust like the sand I readily tasted in this adventure, but I had to see all of this through.

I couldn't help envying little Namame his position against Takiko's breast however.

 

End for now

 

I tried to keep the accurate spelling for `Limdo' here as a reviewer told me. Hope you enjoyed it! Like it, hate it? Please review.

 

Most sincerely, penpaninu/yash 2/18/06